{"id":487,"date":"2024-09-06T09:16:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T09:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/?p=487"},"modified":"2024-09-12T02:29:52","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T02:29:52","slug":"cinema-i-ii-iii-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/2024\/09\/06\/cinema-i-ii-iii-iv\/","title":{"rendered":"Cinema I, II, III, & IV"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Framingham, MA, 1951 by Benjamin Schlanger<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"This<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like the rest of Shoppers\u2019 World, the construction of General Cinema\u2019s Framingham Cinema was heralded as an achievement in its field. Designed by noted theater architect Ben Schlanger, the one seat theater boasted over 1,400 staggered seats for a better view of its 30 foot long frameless screen. As was common at the time, the movie theater could also host stage performances, allowing for a more diverse range of attractions. The front entrance had a combination ticket and snack booth (another innovation at the time) as well as wooden planters and generous windows. This plan gave the building a fanlike shape which – along with the massive lit up \u2018Cinema\u2019 sign – announced its role within the complex. It was important to distinguish because it was the first example of a movie theater built to be a part of a shopping complex. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This business strategy proved to be a success as the Cinema would continue to grow throughout Shoppers\u2019 World\u2019s life. A second theater was added in 1963 dubbed Cinema II and Cinema III & IV would come a decade later. The complex would eventually hold six screens before being torn down as part of the Shoppers\u2019 World redevelopment in 1994. The public would not be left wanting for a cinema for long however as in December of that same year General Cinema would open a brand new 12 screen multiplex by Robert Luchetti Associates right down the street. Now a 16 screen AMC theater, the ornate postmodern structure still welcomes movie going patrons to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Shoppers World\u2019 at Framingham Applies New Ideas\u201d Architectural Record, November 1951.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams, Marjory \u201cTheatre at Shoppers\u2019 World is Last Word in Film Houses\u201d Daily Boston Globe, 29 October 1951.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSHOPPERS\u2019 WORLD\u201d Mall Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShoppers World\u201d Framingham History Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Framingham, MA, 1951 by Benjamin Schlanger Like the rest of Shoppers\u2019 World, the construction of General Cinema\u2019s Framingham Cinema was heralded as an achievement in its field. Designed by noted theater architect Ben Schlanger, the one seat theater boasted over 1,400 staggered seats for a better view of its 30 foot long frameless screen. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[102,40],"tags":[3,105,5,8,9,10,11,103,104],"class_list":["post-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-benjamin-schlanger","category-framingham","tag-architecture","tag-cinema","tag-framingham","tag-massachusetts","tag-metrowest","tag-modern","tag-modernism","tag-movie","tag-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":499,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions\/499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}